Library Buildings around the World

RIBA Award 2006
Overview
The Saltire Centre forms the central hub of university life for many students in Glasgow. The building is a powerful image within the
city and provides a beacon for learning. At the early briefing stages of the project the client team at the university set out to change
learning and the notion of a library, turning it into a learning centre. The building has managed to create a social, as well as
academic, focus which fosters and promotes team working and informal collaborations.
Themes
Integrated flexibility for space and learning
A range of spaces to support different learning styles and working practises are available to students. From monastic cells to a
vibrant cafe, students can utilise areas that are appropriate to them and their needs.
Integrated social and physical context
A number of external terraces have been created to form an urban square open to the public. This helps to reinforce the visual
impact of the building. Inside the building, the use of large-scale art installations has played an important part in making the centre
truly original. The pieces are integrated in the space and specially commissioned, contributing to Glasgow’s rich history of public
art.
Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces
The Learning Cafe was created in a previous building, but in the Saltire centre it has found its natural home as a location for
interactive group working and collaboration centre. The furniture and zoned areas allow some enclosure from the large open space
of the atrium. Student feedback for this space has been excellent and they obviously appreciate the flexibility and interactivity that
the cafe offers.
Responses to developing integrated ICT
The building has been fully set-up for wireless working and contains over 200 laptops. The number of mobile devices is anticipated
to rise and therefore the systems have been designed with an increase of demand in mind. (http://www.imagineschooldesign.org)
University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, Cambridge – UK 2005
Client University of Cambridge, ₤ 6.900.000
Awards:
Cambridge ´smost sustainable building Award 2006
A convivial environment for the exchange of ideas.
The design concept creates a natural wrap of lawn and tree groupings to form a relaxed relationship of faculties, adjacent Georgian
Villa and rekindled garden.
An interior social daylit street winds east to west through the garden from the entrance lawn. A library is placed alongside the lawn
at the edge of the trees to receive glare free north light, while along the south side flexible teaching, seminar rooms and office space
form a structured back-drop to the high side of neighbouring Homerton College. (BDP)
Bornemouth Central Library, Bornemouth – UK 2002
Awards:
Prime Minister´s Award for Better Public Building 2003
Civic Trust Commendation 2003
Public Private Finance Award, Operational Local Government (runner up) 2005
The library reinvented as stimulating public living room.
Four key aims drove our design: encourage the public into the library, inspire users, optimise working practices and create a vibrant
economic hub.
We designed a mixed-use building, comprising 3,608 sq m (38,800 sq ft) of library space atop 3,572 sq m (38,450 sq ft) of street-level
retail.
The library features a fully glazed north-facing elevation, allowing views to and from the street and a direct connection with the
outside world.
Other features include an impressive triple-height foyer, an information/issue desk overlooking the entire library and a sweeping
‘horseshoe’ layout on the first floor housing a reference library, gallery, staff offices and more.
Brief create a welcoming information building on a former car park drive urban regeneration
Results
visitor numbers up three-fold since launch a reinstated historic line of the high street a PFI project where the local authority insisted
on quality and got it. (BDP)
Bennetts Associates Architects, London-Edinburgh – UK
http://www.bennettsassociates.com
Libraries:
Humanities Division and Library, University of Oxford – UK in construction 2012
The architect will work with the University on the £180 million humanities development in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, a site
at the heart of the city of Oxford bounded by the eighteenth-century Radcliffe Infirmary building and the adjacent Radcliffe
Observatory. The development will be part of the masterplan designed for the site by architects Rafael Viñoly.
We are confident that Bennetts will develop a design which will give users of the humanities library a fantastic space to work in
Professor Sally Shuttleworth
The new development will provide a home for most of the faculties in the Humanities, and will offer excellent teaching facilities,
dedicated graduate space and academic offices, as well as space for visiting scholars and research projects. At the centre of the
development will be a new humanities library, which will bring together holdings from faculty libraries, currently spread across the
city. It will also include lecture theatres, and seminar and conference space, as well as cafes and space for art exhibitions, screenings
of films and musical performances.
It is anticipated that the development will be delivered in two phases, with the first phase to be completed by mid 2012. The first
phase will include the faculties of English, History, Philosophy and Theology.
Professor Sally Shuttleworth, Head of the Humanities Division at Oxford, said: ‘Bennetts Associates were selected because they
showed the best understanding of the challenges posed by the site and the complex requirements of the project brief. They combine a
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